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Die behuisingsvoorkeure van plaaswerkers in Stellenbosch

De Kock, Floris Johannes (1998-03)

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 1998.

Thesis

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of the study is to explore the perceptions and preferences
regarding house ownership on the part of farmworkers living in the Devon
Valley/ Stellenbosch Kloof ("Devonkloof') area outside Stellenbosch.
A study such as this is important for more than one reason: the institution of
"tied housing" on South African farms, is probably the factor that contributes
most to farmworkers' dependence on the farmer and the control that the latter
exercises over the employee and his family. In the most recent period this
vulnerability has increased as farmers, especially in the Western Cape, have
started to adopt a more "businesslike" approach towards worker housing.
When farmers refer to a "productive house", they point to an arrangement
whereby it is expected from every able person in a household to make him- or
herself available for farm work - especially during the harvest. In this way
members of the farmworker community are denied the opportunity of
permanent, better paid employment outside the farm. Women are the ones
that are mainly affected by the scaling down of the benevolent side of
paternalism.
However, for the first time in South African history the opportunity now exists
to break this dependence, or at least to reduce it. This possibility flows from
the convergence of a variety of developments, the most important of which is
the launching of the post-apartheid government's housing subsidy scheme for
farmworkers. In essence, the latter boils down to an arrangement whereby
farmworkers can apply to the Department of Land Affairs for an amount of
R 15 000 when wanting to obtain land or a house.
Another recent development which reduces farmworkers' dependence, is the
concept legislation regarding security of tenure. lt lends protection against eviction especially to older farmworkers who have worked on the farm for ten
years or more.
That farmworkers are concerned about life after retirement and have an
intense desire for secure housing, is not much of a secret. In order to
effectively address this concern, financially viable housing alternatives need
to be developed. For instance, provident fund/ pension scheme payments
could be used in combination with state housing subsidies in order to obtain
own title for workers. However, in order to be viable, it is equally important to
take into account the perceptions and housing preferences of the workers
themselves. To gauge these is the main objective of the study.
For purposes of the study, the unit of analysis was defined as the head of the
household (male or female) who lives on the farm, is engaged in a permanent
contractual relation with the farmer and belongs to one of the Devonkloof
provident funds. A random sample of 93 such farmworkers was drawn from a
total population of 188 heads of households spread over 13 farms in the
research area. Their perceptions and preferences regarding housing were
explored during interviews conducted on the basis of a semi-structured
questionaire. The interviews were held by the researcher himself and a
number of final year Social Work students at the University of Stellenbosch.
Data collected in this way, was analysed through the utilisation of the SPSS
statistical package.
The socio-economic profile of the workers involved in the study, confirms to a
large extent the prevailing portrait of permanent farmworkers in the Western
Cape: they are almost exclusively male and Afrikaans speaking. Their
literacy level is relatively low and the majority earns a cash wage of
R100-150 per week. Three-quarters have never left "their" farm for alternative
work. Of those that have, many only did so to work for short stints on another
farm. As a result, most of the workers involved know of no other existence
than the (neo-)paternalist life world of the farm.
The familiarity of the farm is one of the reasons why slightly more than 50% of
wofkers indicated that they would prefer to live on the farm during their
working lives. When thinking about life after retirement, housing in the
(imaginary) agrivillage was the most popular choice. Although a large number
of farmworkers are ignorant about the government's housing subsidy scheme,
the majority is clear about one thing: they would like to own their own dwelling
- whether on the farm or outside the "white gates", because the own house is
the route to less vulnerability, more independence and security.